중재판정의 기판력의 범위

Res Judicata of Arbitral Awards in Korea

Arbitral awards have preclusive effects, as well as national court judgments under res judicata principle, and this is stipulated in Arbitration Act of Korea. The extent of preclusive effect of court judgments, however, differs from country to country, especially between civil law jurisdictions and common law jurisdictions. The civil law jurisdictions usually preclude only the claims of the previous lawsuit to be relitigated, whereas the common law jurisdictions preclude both claims and issues of the previous lawsuit. Although preclusive effects of arbitral awards often have international character, there is no consensus in the extent of the effects. Each jurisdiction applies its own preclusive effect of court judgment to its arbitral awards. Recently KCAB in revision of its international arbitration rules is considering expansion of preclusive effect to the issues of the awards. However, in present situation where arbitral preclusive effect is determined according to the effect of court judgment in each country, this expansion could break the consistency between Arbitration Act and the Arbitration Rules.